While Byron Bay Golf Club proved too tough for many of the leading players today, the course was no match for Queenslander Taj Egea.
Only one of four players to shoot under par during round two, the 17-year-old Brisbane based golfer managed to bag five birdies and finish with a score of 67.
“I was looking at the live scoring and I saw everyone was having a rough day, so I thought it was a great day to capitalize on that and it was nice to get it done,” he said.
“I’m feeling great, it’s nice to be in the lead of a state championship.”
Starting the day off in tenth place, he was happy to make major moves up the leaderboard.
Related Links:
Leaderboard NSW Junior Championship – Boys
Leaderboard NSW Junior Championship – Girls
“It was always my goal today to move up as far as I can and it’s always nice to shoot a low score like that.”
Egea says it’s a good boost to his confidence levels heading into the final two rounds at Ocean Shores with a four-shot lead.
“I feel great. It’s definitely the place to be but I’ll definitely have to play some good golf to beat the other players.”
Moving up in to second place today was Royal Canberra’s Harry Whitelock, this year’s Peter O’Malley Junior Masters Champion. His final score for the day was 73.
Sharing second place with Whitelock is Elijah Rohas-Smith of Surfers Paradise, after seeing a round of 74.
In the girl’s division, Newcastle’s Ella Scaysbrook had a tougher day but still manages to hang onto the lead by three shots.
Playing at Byron Bay, she had a shaky couple of holes to finish on par with a score of 73.
“I was feeling confident coming into today, but I had a rough few holes in the middle but I got it back,” she said.
Her highlight for the day was the few birdies she hit to begin her round, and she says she’s sticking to her processes during the rest of the tournament.
“I’m feeling confident for the next two rounds, I’m still hitting it good. Everything is good”
In second place for the girls is Safina Kyprianou of Brisbane after shooting 70 at Ocean Shores today, with Avondale’s Rachel Lee coming in third after her round of 73.
Tomorrow will see 138 golfers compete at Ocean Shores tomorrow, comprising of 83 boys and 55 girls. Players will tee off at 6:51 AM.
